Four provinces notch zero high school dropout rate, reveals DepEd

Four provinces in the country have posted a zero dropout rate in the secondary level of schooling, the Department of Education yesterday bared.

Education Secretary Mona Valisno identified the provinces as Zamboanga Sibugay, Cotabato, Southern Leyte and Romblon.

Masbate, meanwhile, recorded a dropout rate of 0.95 percent in its five national high schools.

Valisno attributed this to the department’s Drop Out Reduction Program (DORP), which uses various approaches to significantly reduce if not totally eradicate the problem of dropouts.

DORP was primarily used as a tool of the department to enable the country to meet the United Nations goal of Education for All by 2015.

DORP was designed to address the problems faced by students which prevent them from completing their elementary and high school education. Many students cannot report to class regularly because of various reasons such as work, financial problems physical handicap, family and health issues, among others.

The DepEd said it has been working extra hard to be able to reach and bring back to school some 5 million more school-aged children who are out of school and not only the dropouts.

The department earlier set a target to cut the dropout rate in public schools to some 7.13 percent for school year 2009-2010. This is far lower than the national dropout rate of 12.51 percent when DORP started in 2005-2006.

The 2010 target reflects a consistent decline from the 8.35 percent drop out in SY 2006-2007 and 7.45 percent in 2007-2008.

Records showed that a total of 1,176 public high schools are implementing DORP. This number represents 17.68 percent out of the total of 6,650 high schools nationwide.

The schools in Zamboanga Sibugay that posted a zero dropout rate include national high schools (NHS) in Balangao, Guinoman, Imelda, Kasigpitan, Nanan, Symbol and Talusan.

In Cotabato, the zero dropout schools are the NHS in Badiogan, Nabalawag, Pikit and Matalam.

In Southern Leyte, these are the NHS in Esperanza, Libas, Nava, Ichon and Esleta.

In Romblon, these are the NHS in Agnipa, Ferrol, Sta. Fe, Concuera and San Jose.

For four consecutive school years now, other Romblon high schools of Tanagan, Cambalo, Mayha and Esteban Madrona Ferrol have been posting zero dropout rate, while the high schools of Agnipa and Sta. Fe have gained zero dropout record over the last three school years.

The division of Masbate also recorded a very low dropout rate of only 0.95 percent, particularly in the high schools of Dimasalang, Feliciano Samonte, Puro, Iniwaran Integrated and Liong.

Secondary schools that recorded a less than one percent dropout rate in Zamboanga Sibugay were NHS in Olutanga, Pantaleon Cordiera, Pioneer, San Antonio and Basalem. –Jason Faustino, Daily Tribune